10 Problems That Made Movies Better

Alongside Alan Rickman's outstanding turn as the despicable Hans Gruber, it's hard to imagine Die Hard going on to become the iconic success it did without the career-making work Bruce Willis put into making John McClane the sort of hero people could actually relate to.

However, the star was originally set to do even more of the heavy lifting upon signing on to star in the feature, something the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood and Frank Sinatra all opted against doing at various points.

With Willis coming straight off of shooting TV sitcom Moonlighting, finding time to film Die Hard due to his co-star Cybil Shepard becoming pregnant, the star was said to be exhausted. So, director Steven E. de Souza made the decision to beef up a few of the other supporting characters in an effort to preserve his leading man as much as possible.

This meant that the likes of limo driver Argyle, sleaze-ball Harry Ellis, and everyone's favourite sergeant Al Powell were rewarded with a bit more personality and screen time; a decision which added even more rich on-screen brilliance to a film that already boasted two scene-stealing personalities.